It was confirmed by the Irish rugby management that outhalf Joey Carbery suffered a fractured wrist against Fiji on Saturday and has been ruled out for an undisclosed time period. It is unlikely he will now figure competitively until the New Year.
On the positive side for Irish coach Joe Schmidt, prop John Ryan has returned to the Ireland squad having completed his rehab on a calf injury in Munster last week. All of the players who featured against Fiji are expected to be fit to train this week.
That includes CJ Stander, who came off the bench and also acted as Irish captain for the first time in his career.
Stander said valuable lessons had been learned against Fiji but that Ireland would have to look after the ball better and be aware of Argentina’s speed and continuity in their final game on Saturday.
“I was excited,” said Stander. “When you get a call to go on it’s a massive honour, I just said to him (referee): ‘I’m CJ Stander and I’m the captain now’.
“And I said about the breakdown what I felt was going wrong. He said ‘perfect’ and we went on. You just make yourself known so he knows who you are and if he looks for you he knows where to find you.
“They (Argentina) are a physical side. Their forwards especially run hard. They play well, there’s a lot of continuity in the team, they know each other very well and they’re not afraid to attack from anywhere and even go up in an aerial battle.
“Set-piece is going to be important because when they snap and get a turnover they’re going to punish you.”
Fiji was a learning curve for many of the players in a vastly changed Irish side to the one that defeated the Springboks in the first match of the November Series.
Stander’s role also changed and he was cast as an impact player, as he was when he played with the Lions during the summer tour to New Zealand.
It was the first time he had done that job for Schmidt although it’s something he does not necessarily want to get used to.
“It’s the first time for Ireland. I enjoyed it,” said Stander. “It takes a bit longer for you to get into the game so you can suss out the game and see what’s the flow and what you need to do when you get on.
“So look I will jump in any jersey where it’s needed. If it’s off the bench then, If I need to make an impact then that’s my job.
“I think there’s a lot of lessons in the game,” added the Irish backrow. “I think a lot of new players and the experienced boys learned a lot. Fiji came out and showed us they can control a game and play well.
“I think you get more out of these games than if you have a big winning margin. We look back to it but we look on and the big thing is Argentina this weekend.”
Looking forward there are a number of obvious fixes Ireland need to do. Turning over the ball was an issue and going through the phases to the point where Fiji were stretched both need to improve.
“As we look back, the main turnovers were in the first half,” explained Stander.
“We just need to look after the ball and make sure we get through a few more phases and control the game the way we want to play it. Just look after the breakdown, a few times they got in there and slowed down our attack to put us on the back foot.”
